Muse #100 - Hole-Hearted

This came to me as I fell asleep last night - I couldn't wait to get up and make this card for Muse #100 inspired by Michele's card

and for LIM206 - One-Layered, New Beginnings (this will be the card I use for my sister's wedding next month) and for Virginia's View #11 (my first time playing, finally!) Clean Slate.

To begin, I scored my card and then masked the inside panel before sponging it with Worn Lipstick, Festive Berries and Seedless Preserves (I was actually with Virginia when I bought this colour of distress ink!). I left it to dry.

Then I cut a simple heart from the front, outlined it in Stardust Stickles. Done.

The song (for the Muse Challenge) is "Hole-Hearted" by Extreme. And I think it works for their other hit song "More than Words", in a weird way.

I hope you'll play along with us at Muse this week - it's Michele's first week as our newest DT member, it's our 100th challenge and it's our second anniverary! We've even got prizes for 5 random participants! Hope to see you there before the deadline on Monday at 8 am EST!

Five-challenge Celebrate!

This one's for this week's Muse challenge, where our inspiration comes from this card by Marion:



It's also for
Addicted to CAS - Off the Edge
LIM172 - Flowers
OLS5 - One-layer Flowers
The Paper Players - CAS Floral

There's a lot of flower challenges out there right now!

I used an old Stampin' Up flower set and an old Stampin' Up sentiment. I masked the pink flower to stamp the green leaves.

I hope you'll have a chance to play along with us at Muse this week - the deadline is Monday morning at 8 am EDT. At that time you can vote for your favourites (even if you didn't make a card!) until Tuesday morning at 8 am EDT and the results will be posted at noon. Hope to see you there!

CASology 96 - Flower (or - Not That Die Again!)

This week's CASology Cue Card is Flower!

Yes, I'm using that Papertrey flower die again - it's clean, graphic and so, so versatile. I was inspired by Lisa's card here.

Here's a mini tutorial on how I made this card:

Cut the flower from a 3.75x3.75 panel of Gina K 120lb base - you need something that the Copics won't bleed through or show through.

Put the panel on the cardbase (also Gina K 120lb) and traced the flower in pencil. Drew extra lines between the panels, so that I could erase the petals (pencil will not erase after you've coloured over it with Copics, and I didn't want any chance of pencil peeking through.)

Erased the petals and coloured between the lines. No need to be too neat!

Adhered the top panel with the cut-out over top of the card base. Curled petal edges.

Adhered flower only in the centre. Added sparkly black enamel dot and Stampin' Up sentiment.

(I'm also linking up to Less Is More and The Paper Players where the challenges are also both CAS Flowers - you'll get a lot of challenge bang for your CAS flower buck this week!!)

Now it's your turn! Don't forget to check out the DT blogs for even more inspiration!

Gillian Ross

Jen Wills
Joyce Mehrberg
Judy Marino
Kimberly Wiener
May Park
Meghan McMillan
Melissa Chipperfield
Tracey McNeely

and this week's Guest Designer: Hazel

OLS5, LIM171, RS114 - Thank you!

Who'd have thought you could link up to 3 challenges with such a simple card? One-Layer Simplicity's current challenge is Fabulous Flowers. Less Is More's challenge is one-layer thanks and Retrosketches has this sketch:

I used my new A Muse Studios sentiment and a very old Stampin' Up flower. I coloured the flower centres black before putting a tiny drop of Crystal Effects on them for a bit of shine and texture.

OLS3, LIM162 - Spring Flowers and Water

I admit it, I'm afraid of water! Not swimming, but water on my cards. I have held out this long for OLS3 (Add Water) because I really don't like using water. It's wet, messy and unpredictable! Karen, the host of this challenge, uses it all the time, and achieves stunning results and I've looked through the OLS3 gallery, over and over, seeing lots more beautiful cards, working my way up to making this card.

It was this week's challenge at Less Is More that finally made me move. The challenge is one-layer spring flowers, so I saw a chance to use one of my old favourites, Both Way Blossoms and combine these two challenges.

I inked the stamp with green and the bud colour, misted it with water and stamped it. The house did not fall down and in fact, I really liked the slightly softer edges. Then (figuring I may as well dive in with both feet) I took a waterbrush and added some ink to colour in the buds and the leaves. I even used different shades on each tulip bud, to add more dimension to my shading.

And now I'm thinking, why the big fuss?

LIM161 - Yellow and Green

This week's Less is More challenge is to use yellow and green.

I admit that green and yellow is not my favourite colour combination of all time. Somehow I always end up thinking of the Greenbay Packers, which is weird since I don't even watch football.

But given how sick I am of white (ie SNOW), I embraced this classic spring combination to make a fresh and pretty card (if I do say so myself!).

I used a Die-versions die (altered by hand) and a Papertrey flower, with some stickles for sparkle and a yellow enamel centre.

OLS2 - Can You Repeat That?

This month's One-Layer Simplicity challenge is to use repetition on your card. I just got this Yellow Owl Workshop set of two balloons (only one used here - the other says birthday). It has a childlike feel to it so I used bright basic colours (I see that some of my inkpads need to be reinked!) and then used a sharpie to draw the strings down to the Hero Arts 'birthday'. I chose the Sharpie because it is about the same thickness as the font of the black sentiment. I think that thinner strings would cause the card to look unbalanced. Another design tip - I notice when I'm overlapping inks like this, yellow can very quickly disappear underneath the other darker colours (see where it overlaps with the green? No? Exactly my point!), so I usually try to minimize the overlap so that it feels like there is an adequate amount of yellow in the design.

I'm also linking up to Less Is More 158  - One Layer Anything Goes.

Fusion 3 - (Another!) Rainbow Birthday

I haven't played along with Fusion since they restarted, but this week's sketch really caught my eye. The possibilities are literally endless!

I decided to focus only on the sketch. I  overlapped my Clear and Simple Stamps Alpha Duo stamps and then partially coloured and completely Stickle-fied them to create the 'birthday' and a Waltzingmouse sentiment for the 'happy'. And then I planned to put it onto a (you got it!) black mat and a white card. But today, I'm wild, I'm unpredictable! I created a rainbow mat by simply using copics in small blocks around the edge. It is a separate layer, because that way you don't have to worry about perfection in your colouring - the edge of the top layer cleans everything up nicely!

I'm also linking up to Less Is More's rainbow challenge. Take a look at this inspiration photo - it's AWESOME!

CTS33, LIM125 - Happy Birthday Jen!

On Saturday I did something I haven't been able to do for a while - I played along with  Less Is More, where the challenge is to make a birthday card for Jen, who likes cats, fish and butterflies (I couldn't think of a good way to do all 3 on one card!). And I played along with this week's CAS(E) This Sketch:

I turned my white panel over and scored some lines on the back (using a post-it to make sure that the ends of the scored lines are all the same length).  I used an MFT butterfly die and a Stampin' Up sentiment. And, introducing Smokey Slate cardstock for the card base! I think it's the perfect neutral backdrop for the pops of pink.

So, Happy Birthday Jen! I hope you have (or had) a wonderful day!

An Attempt at this week's LIM challenge

This week's Less Is More challenge is a fun one. One Layer, but with a twist. No white card bases allowed. My friend Hannelie made me pretty much give up altogether on this challenge when she linked up this card, which I think is probably the best One Layer Card EVER. I mean, look at the depth and interest she achieved. I just love how the flower and font of the sentiment look with that shading.

But then I had an idea. I started with a white card base. And then I sponged it all over and ended up with this (you can see that the distress ink wasn't even dry yet!):

To keep it clean and simple, after I embossed the sentiment in clear (yes it comes that way, with 3 'thank yous'), I sponged on only 3 colours, in shades that are closely related.

As you can see, in the end I couldn't resist cutting this down and putting it onto a white card base so that there's a nice big white frame around the edges! lol! I love my white card bases - thanks to Chrissie and Jen for the stretch this week but I'll have to give it another try!

LIM118 - Complementary Thanks!

I wasn't sure I was going to get time to play along with Less Is More's challenge to use Complementary Colours this week. But I found this photo on Pinterest and that made it easy.

My colours are actually closer to the inspiration than this photo is showing - they look very blue. I used Aquamarine and Island Indigo cardstock and Only Orange for the letters (Soft Stone for the card base, to incorporate the colour of the headboard). I coloured the bottom half of the letters with a Copic marker to represent the 'fold' in the circle art above the bed.

LIM115 - Film Inspiration

This week's Less Is More challenge is to make a one-layer card inspired by a film.

Shall I give you a hint?

1) It's not that well-known film 'Blue Star Baby' (thanks to my husband for that suggestion).
2) It has more to do with the placement of the sentiment, than the colour or the star next to it (ie the sentiment is in the centre and not in a corner)
3) It starred Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey
4) The famous line I was going for here was "No one puts Baby in the corner"

Right! Dirty Dancing!

I used an old Lizzie Anne Designs sentiment.

LIM112 - Happy Scalloped Birthday

For this week's Less Is More challenge, to use scallops. I created my multicoloured scallops by outlining a circle in pencil, then stamping dots on the pencil line. I popped up the circle sentiment panel, so that half of each dot is hidden underneath. This is one of my favourite colour combinations for girl birthday cards!

I was really hoping to have lots of time in my craft room this long weekend, but these (ie my) kids have kept me very busy - lots of outside time on the two nicest days of 2013 (so far!). If this trend continues for much longer, we're going to have to call it Spring!

ETA - I love the comments about how I managed to fit the circles perfectly around with no space or overlap. (and, if you notice, a complete cycle of colours). I wish I could explain my mathematical calculations and predictions, but it was pure dumb luck!

LIM112, CFC94, FFC04 - Bead Merry!

Oh my! I came home from the spa on Saturday afternoon, all waxed and buffed and  ZEN. Then I panicked that I didn't have a card for today. I spent a bit of time looking through blogland, and saw that this week's Less Is More challenge is to use beads. What?! Beads?! I figured I would skip this week.

But then as I sat down and thought about the current challenges, I remembered Festive Friday's Merry and CASual Friday's No Stamps challenges and I happened on some alphabet beads on my daughter's desk. And the rest, as they say, is history!

And now, I just have to build a box to put this in for mailing! lol!

Look what we made for dinner last night - home-made cheese ravioli  (before cooking)! (a bit of a fuss to make but so yummy with fresh marinara sauce!)

ETA (April 6) - look what this card got!

CFC94, LIM111, ABNH22 - Happy Mother's Day

Wow! I managed to hit 3 challenges today!

A Blog Named Hero: Free style, CASual Fridays: Chipboard and  Less is More - Frame It!



















I have had these chipboard shapes forever. I sponged them with Hero Arts Neon pink and green, used a Hero Arts sentiment and added pearls and green Stickles to dress it up a little.

We're off to pick up my son from his week long stay on a US Marine Base in South Carolina (we pick him up where we dropped him off here in Toronto) - I can't wait to hear what he's seen and done - what a fantastic experience for him and his fellow members of the Canadian Air Cadets!

CFC93, LIM110 - Happy Birthday!

For this week's CASual Friday challenge - Colour Blocks and Less Is More - One Layer Spots and Stripes.

My husband looked at this and said "Why is it upside down?" He thinks the spots make it look like candles. lol!  I used Papertrey stamps (Birthday Basics, Faux Ribbon and Background Basics: Superstripes).

My son has left on his March Break trip with the Air Cadets so it's just me and Kate hanging out this week - visiting friends, shopping, watching movies - we can't wait!

ETA (March 15) - Woohoo! This one's a favourite!

ETA (March 22) - This one WON at LIM! (see, Michael (hubby), you have to be an 'artist' to get it!) 

ROTD#1, LIM 110 - Happy Birthday!

Have you heard about this new challenge? It's called Rockin' out the Digis - Jackie provides us with FREE digital stamps and then we make cards with them. Then, like Muse, (Jackie's other cool new challenge) you go back and comment on the other entrants' cards and vote on the winner at the end of the week.

When I saw it, I thought it was a really brilliant idea, but I am digitally-challenged. I wasn't going to play. Then I saw some of the amazing cards being submitted and thought maybe I could just play around and see how difficult it really was. NOT AT ALL! I literally copied and pasted them right into a Word document and then printed it and coloured it. The whole card was finished in about 20 minutes!

I'm going to also link this up to this week's Less Is More Challenge - one layer with stripes and dots.

I hope you'll give it a try - it's really fun!

LIM108, CFC91 - Silver Anniversary

Ever hear that great minds think alike? I was all set to make my paper pierced creation for this week's Less Is More challenge, and then I visited my good friend Hannelie. Well. Plan A went out the window and I moved to Plan B. This, as a matter of fact, is Plan C, due to technical difficulties with Plan B. lol!

Like Hannelie (and like this card), I did my piercing from the back. I was inspired by those boards of pins that you can push your hand against and see the shape coming through the other side like this:

I used a grey and silver theme (that Sweet and Sassy heart is cut from mirror card) - perfect for an elegant wedding or 25th anniversary. And perfect for this week's CASual Friday challenge - Hi Ho Silver.  I created a round frame by outlining two nestabilities with pencil on the back of my white panel. I then flipped the panel over, glued the grey circle in the centre of the frame, to give some more grounding to the silver heart and popped up the mirror card heart.

ETA - this card was chosen as a favourite! Thank you so much!

LIM104 - Musical Friends

After I made yesterday's card for this week's Less Is More Challenge (Music), I came across this sentiment stamp (Verve's Floral Symphony) and thought about a way to incorporate flowers and music onto a one layer card.

The 5 scored lines are a subtle reference to a musical staff, and the flowers are placed on the staff, as if they are notes. And if you're not musical, and you don't get that, it's still a pretty card with a little bit of texture!

On another note, MASKerade now has 200 followers and over 94,000 views! Wow! What a milestone! I'm so appreciative of all the new friends I've made through this fun hobby!

LIM 106 , OLW126, Musical Birthday

For this week's Less Is More Challenge - One Layer Music (my favourite!).  And, since I rarely use Pool Party, I'll link up to this week's One Layer Wednesday challenge to use a colour that you rarely use.

Unfortunately, I have no idea where these stamps came from. (except the sentiment, which is My Sentiments Exactly, stamped in Early Espresso).

I hope you're enjoying your weekend! We've spent a good deal of time clearing the driveway of the 30 cms of snow that fell and then all the snowplow 'droppings', which they kindly leave for us! But it's sunny and bright and warming up, so hopefully it will be gone soon!